


Trichotomy

by GGsYoyo



Category: THE iDOLM@STER
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, Love Triangles, OT3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-17
Updated: 2018-10-17
Packaged: 2019-08-03 17:12:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16330205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GGsYoyo/pseuds/GGsYoyo
Summary: Haruka likes Chihaya, but Chihaya likes Ritsuko, but Ritsuko likes Haruka. Oh no! A three chapter commission by a lovely friend of mine.





	1. Haruka

It seems like any other day for a miss Haruka Amami. School, friends, and pining for that cold, mysterious classmate with the voice of an angel. But what would the blue beauty want with a girl like _her_? Haruka is so… so _ordinary_ , and such a disaster case. She can barely go a day without tripping over herself! But guh, just hearing that voice makes her heart flutter… And oh, oh she’s staring again, isn’t she? Aha, how embarrassing… But surely Chihaya didn’t see that right? Haruka looks back down at her book and sighs.

At least once lunch rolls around, she can hang out with Ritsuko-senpai and get her mind off this stupid crush for a bit. It’s a bit weird, though, as Ritsuko-senpai seems a lot more easy-going and understanding of her than anyone else, but that might be Haruka’s imagination. Or it might just straight up not be worth scolding her, since she never seems to learn from too many mistakes. Whatever the case may be, Haruka is just thankful she isn’t getting the brunt of Ritsuko-senpai’s… well, everything.

Haruka’s attention snaps up as she hears the teacher call her name. Yeah, she expected that given how obviously she’s been spacing out. Haruka apologizes for making the teacher have to stop class like that.

 

_How could I have been so careless about that…? Oops…_

 

But of course, also, math isn’t the most entertaining subject to be stuck in when your mind is capable of wandering like Haruka’s is. Haruka gets back on track as much as she can.

 

Once the lunch bell goes off, Haruka goes to meet Ritsuko-senpai in the hallway on the way to the courtyard.

“Ah, Haruka, everything going alright?”

“Yeah, of course it is, Ritsuko-senpai!” Haruka will not mention what just happened in class… but she can feel Ritsuko-senpai’s glare. Haruka gulps and just fesses up immediately, “I… kinda… ended up daydreaming and falling asleep in class again.”

“ _Again_?” Oh no, there’s that tone of disappointment… “You’re at least keeping sure you don’t fall behind, right? It’s not good to daydream like that.” And with that, Haruka receives a swift… tap on the nose.

“Aha, I’m sure…”

“Excuse me, Akizuki-senpai…”

Oh, that voice, that has to be…! Haruka and Ritsuko both turn to look at her…

“Ah, Kisaragi-san, did you need something?”

“Just… Just a bit of advice, I think.” Chihaya glances over at Haruka, then Haruka quickly looks away. “On second thought, now might not be the best time…”

 

_Oh no, she’s gonna say how weird I am, isn’t she…? And ask about all the times I stare at her… I’m such an idiot._

 

“Haruka? You’re spacing out.”

“O-Oh, hahaha, so I was…” Haruka can feel her cheeks heating up. “Um, I think I’m just gonna go out to the courtyard and eat now.” She zooms away from the other two. That has to have been the worst experience she’s had yet. How can she face Chihaya again? There’s no way…

 

Under this tree looks like a nice place to sit. Haruka opens her lunchbox and quietly starts eating. If she sees either of them for the rest of the day it’d be too soon. Haruka still has her chicken nuggets, though. That is the most important thing. Her nuggets will never betray her like she has herself. Being a teenager with a crush is difficult, especially since she keeps embarrassing herself in front of her crush.

Haruka could ask Ritsuko-senpai about it, but is that the be—

“Haruka!” Oh. That’s good timing. “Why did you run off like that?” And that’s Ritsuko-senpai’s concerned face.

“Do you want the real answer?”

“What kind of question is _that_? I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t.”

Haruka takes a deep breath. How should she say this? If she’s too blatant, she might just end up embarrassing herself more, but if she doesn’t say it right, she might not get any helpful advice.

“So, I guess, the thing is… I feel like I embarrassed myself in front of a girl I like.” She notices Ritsuko-senpai’s face light up.

“Go on, tell me more.”

 

_That’s weird… why is Ritsuko-senpai asking like that…?_

 

“So I ended up staring, just, straight at her for a solid minute or so in class because I got lost in thought about her…”

“O-Oh. Is that so?”

 

_D-Did I say something wrong?_

 

“And then when she came to talk to you I… well, I guess it’s obvious I like Chihaya now, but I think she was gonna talk to you about what to do with a girl being weird like me.”

“She ran off after you did, so she didn’t talk about anything.”

“Sh-She ran too?”

“In the opposite direction. I wanted to check up on you first, though.”

“On… me?”

Ritsuko-senpai gives Haruka a weird look. “Th-That’s not odd, is it? I mean, you did run off in embarrassment first…”

Haruka blinks twice. This is… definitely weird. Ritsuko-senpai is usually a lot more composed than this. Something doesn’t seem right, but Haruka doesn’t want to talk about it since she’s sure Ritsuko-senpai wouldn’t either, but it’s something to think about. It certainly isn’t _nothing_ , but…

No, no that can’t be right. There’s certainly a lot of weird things going on, but to reach _that_ conclusion? Haruka shakes her head. That’s not right at all. Out of all people, Ritsuko-senpai having a crush on her? If, and only if, that’s also the case… she must know now Haruka likes Chihaya instead. Oh no. Now Haruka feels bad about the whole thing…

The worst part is, she is almost certain Chihaya doesn’t like her back, either. No one will be happy. Haruka stares down at her lunch. This is just a bad situation from all angles, but maybe Chihaya will have someone she likes. Maybe Haruka could help her, if Chihaya even wants to talk to her ever again after today. That would at least be a good consolation for not being able to date her herself, maybe.

 

…Oh, and lunch is over, and she didn’t even finish her nuggets. This sucks.


	2. Chihaya

Another day passes, and Chihaya just sighs in the morning before class, listening to her music and trying to drown out the world. At least Amami isn’t trying to… be weird again. That’s already an improvement over yesterday, to be honest. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to go to Akizuki-senpai at some point to get advice on just what to do about her.

…Ah. And here comes Amami through the door. Chihaya was enjoying this morning too. It isn’t even that she _dislikes_ Amami as a person. Amami’s a sweet kid, and she has a good heart, but she’s just so awkward, coupled with Chihaya’s awkwardness that it just makes their interactions unpleasant. If she were just a bit better at social cues, maybe they could be closer. As it stands, that can’t happen, and they will remain as just awkward acquaintances.

“Chihaya!” Amami waves at Chihaya, to the other’s glancing back at her.

“Amami-san, did you need something?” Chihaya removes her headphones and pauses her music, not expecting what is to follow.

“I want to help you!”

This causes a mental record scratch in Chihaya’s mind. H-Help her? Help her _with what_? “P-Pardon?” Is there anything Chihaya actively needs help with? Well, there is _one_ thing, but how could Am—

“I want to help with your crush!”

Chihaya’s eyes widen immediately. “I-I’m sorry‽” How in the… How in the world is she that perceptive? Amami-san, of all people?

“If you… have one, that is.”

…What a weird girl. “I don’t understand what you mean or why you’re asking to help me.”

Haruka’s face loses color for a second, peering down at her feet before explaining herself, “I like you, Chihaya, and if you don’t like me, that’s fine, but I want to help you be happy, if that’s all I can do.”

 

_I can’t tell her about my feelings for Akizuki-senpai now, can I? Not right after she just aired that but… She’s Amami-san, nothing gets her sad. Yet, I don’t know how she can help me. What am I gonna do…?_

“I appreciate the offer, but I don’t know if you can help. I’m not sure even I know what I want.” That’s a lie, Chihaya _knows_ what she wants, but she’s not sure how to approach it, and Amami-san certainly can’t help more than she’ll hurt.

“O-Oh, I see. That’s also fine.”

It’s difficult to tell her of all people the truth, too, since she’s so close to Akizuki-senpai. She might get upset that Chihaya doesn’t like her and instead likes Akizuki-senpai. However, given how… soft on her Akizuki-senpai seems to be, it also might not be the worst avenue to explore in getting closer to her. There is so much to consider. Chihaya needs to make a decision on what to do, and fast. This could be her one chance, so she might as well go ahead and take it, right?

“Fine, if you’re that nosy about it…”

This immediately makes the clumsy girl before her light up. “Yeah?”

“I like Akizuki-senpai. How do you propose to help?”

“Oh man, for real? I didn’t think that was the case, but I can try anything I need to!”

Chihaya is… suspicious, needless to say, as Amami doesn’t exactly have a lot of charisma. Or charm. Or any sort of social skills. She’s as clumsy when talking as she is walking. Chihaya is even _surprised_ to see that the other hasn’t so much as…

Trip over her own two feet again. So much for that. Chihaya was starting to get impressed too. “Should I help you up?” She offers a hand, and Amami gratefully accepts, pulling herself up in the process. Chihaya can see a bit of pink in Amami’s face. “Don’t think anything of it, Amami-san.”

“Ahah… Yeah, I know…” She dusts herself off and starts taking Chihaya to meet with Akizuki-senpai.

“Where are we going…?”

“You’ll see~”

Chihaya immediately feels fear and tries to pull away from Amami. “I don’t like the look of this…” She manages to escape the clumsy girl’s grip, just slightly. “I’m not ready yet, I don’t think I am anyway.”

Amami looks down, Chihaya guessing that she realizes she got ahead of herself for the time being, before snapping back to her usual upbeat self. “I think we should at least try! It can’t go that bad, right?”

Chihaya chooses not to dignify that with a response. Oh it can get _bad_ , and she does not have the tact to try and say that without outright telling Amami how bad it could get with the two of them being so bad at everything social.

“I’ll take that as you agree~”

Fuck. Chihaya certainly does _not_ agree, but at this point she is in too deep to say otherwise. She just follows Haruka and hopes that it just can’t get worse, especially once they start talking to Akizuki-senpai.

 

_This is a disaster waiting to happen. I can’t talk well, Amami-san talks too much, Akizuki-senpai probably won’t even like me back, I don’t know what too expect and I don’t want to find out, but this train has no brakes and something’s gonna inevitably break because of it. I’m freaking out, and I can feel my heart just pounding…_

 

The duo meets Akizuki-senpai in the courtyard.

“Ah, I see you two made up. That’s good.”

Chihaya gives a soft nod. It’s about as much of a making up as it can be, she thinks.

“Need anything?”

“Chihaya wants to talk to you about something…”

 

_Oh… Oh no, I didn’t expect her to just completely put me on the spot like this… I’m a little bit concerned, and I’m definitely not ready. I-I don’t know what to do. I’m not sure what there is to do… but, but I have to try right? Otherwise, nothing’s going to happen. I have to try. That’s all I can do. I want to try, but I need to find out the right way to say this…_

“Akizuki-senpai, I… I admire you. I admire the hard work you put into everything you do, including keeping the school going. You’re a great senpai and a great friend. You have not only enriched my time here, but also my life. Thank you so much. I… I like you a lot.” Chihaya feels her face catch fire. All of it just flowed from her mouth, and she instantly feels odd about it. Surely Akizuki-senpai won’t take it badly…

“Ahaha… that’s… quite a confession. Um, I need to go to the student council for now… G-Goodbye, we can talk more tomorrow…!” And she’s gone.


	3. Ritsuko

It is now Sunday, a few days after the last meeting, or perhaps, incident. It is also the weekend, and Ritsuko has a few errands to do. She’ll be in town most of the day, probably at the shopping mall. It has the convenience of not only quite a few stores inside, but also grocery stores nearby and the food court to eat at once she finishes up everything. It’s a solid plan, all in all. By also not meeting up with Kisaragi-san or Haruka for a couple days, it hopefully cooled down such an awkward meeting. It’s also unlikely that they will all happen to meet up in the mall, so Ritsuko can get her errands done without a part two of those affairs.

…Hmm. Ritsuko thinks she notices a familiar set of bows in the distance, but chooses to not acknowledge it, at least, not for now. Unfortunately for her, she’s been spotted, too. The bows start getting bigger, and closer, too. Ritsuko can start making out features of the face... short-ish brown hair, green eyes, bumping into things on the way… that’s for sure Haruka. Ritsuko has nowhere she can abscond to at the moment, so she might just have to deal with this.

“Hey! I didn’t expect to see you here today!”

 

_Oh no… Oh no… What do I say? Is she going to bring up the other day? I don’t want to tell her that her objective of pairing me off with Kisaragi-san is in vain, because I actually like her instead…_

 

“Oh, ah, I’m out doing some errands. I’ll be bouncing between the mall for clothes and supplies, the grocery store to stock up on food, and the food court so I can actually eat before I go back home for the evening.”

“Wow, so busy! I’m surprised you can do all this so easily!” There’s that twinkle in Haruka’s eyes, the one she secretly finds so cute. She must try to play it cool, though. Haruka apparently likes that, right? And even if Haruka likes Kisaragi-san, maybe there’s hope she can turn it around.

“I wouldn’t say it’s that easy, I just plan well. It’s a convenient location, too, so it saves a lot of time in terms of coming and going, if I end up just doing everything at once like this.” There. That should do it, right?

“Oh uh, do you have an answer for Chihaya today…?”

Ritsuko freezes up. If she’s honest, that will make things even more awkward than they already are. She likes Haruka, Haruka likes Kisaragi-san, Kisaragi-san likes her… This is an actual, real love triangle and Ritsuko is so confused and frustrated by the whole thing.

“I don’t.”

“Oh, that’s okay too…”

“Did you need anything else?”

“I could help with your errands, if you want me to.”

“I think that’s acceptable. Stick with me, and it shouldn’t be too much trouble for the both of us.”

Even worse bad luck, going past the music store, the pair notice someone testing headphones. Haruka and Ritsuko exchange glances – What are the odds all three of them are at the same mall on the same Sunday?

“Should we go in, Ritsuko?”

“…This won’t resolve itself on its own, let’s go ahead.”

They walk inside. The air feels a bit heavy to Ritsuko, but someone’s gotta do something. It might as well be her that starts it all, as she is the oldest. She taps Kisaragi-san on the shoulder. Kisaragi-san removes her headphones and slowly turns to face them.

“Akizuki-senpai? Amami? What are you both doing here?”

“I’m out doing errands, but I met up with Haruka and we have something that we’d like to hopefully discuss.”

“Is… is this about the other day?”

Haruka nods, “We can’t just let it sit like that.”

“I do have to apologize for running off without answering your confession, but it was quite a tricky situation.”

“Tricky… how?”

“You see, I actually like Haruka.”

The other two look at each other, before simultaneously exclaiming “What?!”

“As I said, it’s tricky.”

“So I like Chihaya…” She points to Kisaragi-san, then points at Ritsuko, “Who likes you,” then points at herself, “Who likes _me_? Is that right?”

“As far as I can tell, yes that’s the proper state of affairs.”

“How did it end up like this…?” Kisaragi-san puts her face in her hands. “I can’t believe all of us like each other, but in such a weird way… What do we do?”

Haruka continues to glance between the two of them, and her face seems to light up. “I think… I have an idea?” Her face turns red, and she then refuses to look at Ritsuko or Kisaragi-san. “It’s kind of stupid, but I think it might work…” And knowing Haruka and her ideas, if she says something is stupid, it actually is probably a pretty good idea, Ritsuko would have to admit.

“Is that so? What do you propose we do about the situation?” Ritsuko quirks an eyebrow. She is rather interested to hear what Haruka might have in mind. Kisaragi-san stays quiet but looks to Haruka with eyes filled with intrigue. This might be the first time Ritsuko sees Kisaragi-san willing to hear out Haruka of all people.

Haruka giggles a bit, before she becomes an absolute tomato, and speaks quietly, probably with the intent to not be heard. “What… What if… we all just date each other? Is that okay?”

“Dating… each other…” The prospect definitely doesn’t seem awful to Ritsuko… she quite enjoys it, to be honest. “I think that might work just fine. Kisaragi-san, hmm, no, Chihaya? Your thoughts?”

Chihaya’s focus snaps to Ritsuko, who immediately nods. “Y-Yes, um, Ritsuko… c-can I call you that?”

“If we’re all dating, that’d make the most sense, wouldn’t it?”

“Of course, yeah… same to you, Haruka?”

Haruka’s eyes fill up with life. “I have been waiting so long for you to call me that!” She clings, to the both of them. “Let’s all go and have fun together!”


End file.
